banks are the catalyst to get us out of this morass that we're in. you can talk so long about the past, but at some point, you've got to look at the present and the future. and i thought that's what he was saying. >> narrator: the president had decided. he would wait on reforming wall street, and adopt the cautious apoach. >> i think theresident sees himself as a pragmatist: "let's get through this. let's be pragmatic. let's not shoot for the moon and miss. let's accomplish as much as we can, but let's do it with the certainty that we know we can produce by taking this a little more cautiously." >> narrator: and the president required no firm commitments from the bankers. >> i think it's clear it was an opportunity lost. he had a room full of very frightened ceos. he was in a position then to make demands, and didn't. >>e didn't wt toistu the banks. he wanted them on their side so that things were as calm as possible. there would be basically business as usual. >> today the obama administration did indeed extend them an olive branch. >> it looks like